UK police open historic child abuse probe

LONDON (AP) — British police have launched an official probe into claims that senior politicians had links to a pedophile gang during the 1980s.

Scotland Yard says the investigation is looking into historic child abuse allegations at a London guest house.

Thursday’s announcement came after opposition Labour Party lawmaker Tom Watson claimed last year that there was evidence that a member of a pedophile ring boasted about his connections with a “senior aide to a former prime minister.”

Watson suggested that at the time there was a “pedophile network linked to Parliament” and Downing Street. He urged police to reopen evidence files to reexamine and follow up the leads.

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Police said that initial findings have turned up enough to begin a criminal investigation.